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Students do better in public schools

Students do better in private schools, according to common wisdom -- and some well-regarded data now more than two decades old.

12 Apr 2005

Tamoxifen still not popular with women at risk of breast cancer

Tamoxifen still not popular with women at risk of breast cancer A new study has revealed that less than one in five women eligible to take tamoxifen decided to take the drug after being told of its risks and benefits.

11 Apr 2005

Keyboards harbour nasty bugs

A new study has shown that some nasty bacteria can survive and grow for at least 24 hours on computer keyboards and electronic recordkeeping in hospitals and other health care settings and may be spreading more than just information.

11 Apr 2005

Soy oil increases heart rate variability

Taking daily supplements of fish or soy oil may improve cardiac function and protect against heart attacks in the short-term. Study results published in the April issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, are the first to show that soy oil increases heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of cardiac autonomic function.

11 Apr 2005

Study predicted cardiovascular risk of Cox-2 inhibitors

Amid the recent controversy and confusion over serious side effects from pain medications, a new UCLA and Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System study demonstrates that for arthritis sufferers at high risk for gastrointestinal problems who traditionally may have used a drug like Vioxx, the most cost-effective and safest treatment is actually a common painkiller combined with an acid-reducing drug.

11 Apr 2005

Smokers who receive abnormal results using computed tomography to screen for lung cancer are more likely to quit

According to a new study, smokers who receive multiple abnormal results using computed tomography (CT) to screen for lung cancer are more likely to quit, suggesting an opportunity for doctors to motivate smokers to quit smoking.

11 Apr 2005

Ephrins may influence learning

A Burnham Institute study has found that one of the cell's largest families of signaling molecules, called ephrins, which are known to regulate the development of nerve cells, also controls nerve cells' ability to engulf critical chemicals and proteins for learning and memory.

11 Apr 2005

A parent's weight may also play a role in adolescent weight gain

The prevalence of adolescent obesity has doubled over the last 30 years and can lead to serious medical problems, like high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer.

11 Apr 2005

Public-health efforts to increase the use of breast-cancer screening appear to have altered the types of breast cancer being diagnosed

Since 1980, the incidence of ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, one of the most common kinds of early stage breast cancer, has increased more than sevenfold. This sharp increase in DCIS – which is a tumor that contains cancer-like cells but is not considered "true" cancer because the cells have not invaded normal breast tissue – has been accompanied by a flattening in the incidence of true invasive breast cancer.

11 Apr 2005

HIVNET 012 perinatal HIV prevention trial praised by IOM

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies of Sciences in the autumn of 2004 was asked by the NIH to review the HIVNET 012 perinatal HIV prevention trial and provide an assessment of the validity of the study results.

10 Apr 2005

Panel in US disputes drug trial allegations

Medical experts have been forced to defend a study conducted in Uganda and called HIVNET 012 that led to the widespread use of a single AIDS drug called nevirapine to protect newborns, after allegations by Dr. Jonathan Fishbein, a National Institutes of Health researcher, that the research was flawed and the conclusions were unfounded.

10 Apr 2005

UAB reaction to Lancet study on human papilloma virus (HPV)

The prominent British medical journal Lancet published results of a clinical trial on a vaccine for human papilloma virus (HPV) The virus is a leading cause of cervical cancer and genital warts.

10 Apr 2005

Cyclosporine inhalation solution (CyIS) significantly improves long-term survival in lung-transplant patients

Data presented for the first time at the 25th Annual Meeting and Scientific Session of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) show that cyclosporine inhalation solution (CyIS) significantly improves long-term survival in lung-transplant patients compared to placebo.

10 Apr 2005

Three out of every four adults over age 50 use some kind of alternative medicine

This study found that 71 percent of older adults used some form of alternative medicine in 2000. A study done in 2002, found a lower rate -- about 62 percent – among all adults.

10 Apr 2005

Teens feel most stress before HIV-infected parent dies

A UCLA AIDS Institute study has discovered that teens of HIV-infected parents are at the highest risk for depression and self-destructive behavior before their parent's death, not after. Published in the April issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, the findings emphasize the importance of providing support services to HIV-affected families promptly after a parent's diagnosis and through the subsequent illness — not only after the parent's death.

7 Apr 2005

Women with heart attacks benefit from stenting

Female heart attack patients undergoing angioplasty have a higher risk of death than men, but stenting may improve their outcomes, according to a study reported in Circulation, Journal of the American Heart Association.

7 Apr 2005

Belgian doctors treating critically ill infants favour legalising euthanasia

Most paediatricians in Flanders, Belgium, favour the legalisation of lethal drugs to end the life of some critically ill babies and infants, concludes a study in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

7 Apr 2005

Post-traumatic stress disorder common among refugees in western countries

Refugees settled in western countries could be about ten times more likely to have posttraumatic stress disorder than general populations in those countries, suggests a study published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

7 Apr 2005

Mediterranean diet makes you live longer

The Mediterranean diet is associated with longer life expectancy among elderly Europeans, finds a study published online by the BMJ today.

7 Apr 2005

Use of smokeless tobacco helped hard-to-quit smokers give up their habit

The study, published in the January-March issue of the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, reports on subjects who were contacted seven years after completion of a smoking cessation program that replaced cigarettes with smokeless tobacco products as a harm-reduction strategy.

7 Apr 2005